War and the future: Italy, France and Britain at war eBook

but not as the big gun travels. The Italians,
therefore, as their contribution to the common effort,
are thrusting rather eastwardly towards the line of
the Julian Alps through Carinthia and Carniola.
From my observation post in the tree near Monfalcone
I saw Trieste away along the coast to my right.
It looked scarcely as distant as Folkestone from Dungeness.
The Italian advanced line is indeed scarcely ten miles
from Trieste. But the Italians are not, I think,
going to Trieste just yet. That is not the real
game now. They are playing loyally with the Allies
for the complete defeat of the Central Powers, and
that is to be achieved striking home into Austria.
Meanwhile there is no sense in knocking Trieste to
pieces, or using Italians instead of Austrian soldiers
to garrison it.

II. THE MOUNTAIN WAR

1

The mountain warfare of Italy is extraordinarily unlike
that upon any other front. From the Isonzo to
the Swiss frontier we are dealing with high mountains,
cut by deep valleys between which there is usually
no practicable lateral communication. Each advance
must have the nature of an unsupported shove along
a narrow channel, until the whole mountain system,
that is, is won, and the attack can begin to deploy
in front of the passes. Geographically Austria
has the advantage. She had the gentler slope
of the mountain chains while Italy has the steep side,
and the foresight of old treaties has given her deep
bites into what is naturally Italian territory; she
is far nearer the Italian plain than Italy is near
any practicable fighting ground for large forces;
particularly is this the case in the region of the
Adige valley and Lake Garda.

The legitimate war, so to speak, in this region is
a mountaineering war. The typical position is
roughly as follows. The Austrians occupy valley
A which opens northward; the Italians occupy valley
B which opens southward. The fight is for the
crest between A and B. The side that wins that crest
gains the power of looking down into, firing into and
outflanking the positions of the enemy valley.
In most cases it is the Italians now who are pressing,
and if the reader will examine a map of the front
and compare it with the official reports he will soon
realise that almost everywhere the Italians are up
to the head of the southward valleys and working over
the crests so as to press down upon the Austrian valleys.
But in the Trentino the Austrians are still well over
the crest on the southward slopes. When I was
in Italy they still held Rovereto.